The way personal data will be used and protected in Europe will change as a result of decisions to be taken this week. The European Parliament will vote on rules governing the collection and use of personal data, including for law enforcement purposes...

There are statistics, news stories and articles everywhere about women made ashamed and guilty by secrets: singledom, childlessness, genital mutilation, forced marriage, physical or sexual or emotional abuse, menstrual conditions, the size and shape of their labia...The list goes on.

First: social clouds will see all the activities of social networking in virtual space translated into real space. If you know someone virtually and they drift into your real space, our mobile devices recognise this and flag the situation. It will be irresistible not to meet and greet!

Negative comments. We all get them. Not many of us enjoy them, but the majority of us can take the rough with the smooth. However, there is always that one statement (the straw that breaks the camel's back, if you will) that forces us to snap. To respond. To cause an issue. But what makes us do this? And why can't we take a step back, a deep breath, and realise that it's not that big a deal?

Now I love public relations professionals but one of the key skills needed in this field is learning how to use that all important bcc box. Journalists, bloggers and anyone else who receive press releases know that they're not special. We know that PR's aren't sat in their fancy offices individually sending us press releases with love. But we don't need to KNOW that the emails are going out en masse.

Our social networks have become part of all walks of our life. LinkedIn was once your 'go-to' site for connecting with colleagues, but now the paths of our digital personas cross over, making Instagram and Facebook as important as WhatsApp, Snapchat and Twitter.

2013 was a year in which big data became a 'hot topic' for discussion and debate, reaching far beyond the usual industry journals and making the mainstream news for a number of good and bad reasons. With that in mind there has been a great deal of speculation about what trends we should expect to see in big data in 2014.

'You've got a virus,' my little sister said finally, sneering at me in a way that made it perfectly clear that she considered the whole matter beneath her. 'What internet security provider are you using?' I laughed, because internet security software is like ironing, or packing the night before a flight- done only by the neurotic or the elderly.

On one side is the 'Internet Safety Industrial Complex' faction that includes representatives of companies that sell internet safety technologies, i.e. Internet filtering, monitoring and age verification technologies.

Keeping your business running on a budget isn't always the easiest task. However, you can keep your business computer safe from viruses by using free virus protection software. There are a lot of options out there, so how do you know what is the best? Take a look at some of the top free virus protection software options for your business.

Any small business that thinks their modest size means they are not a target for cyber criminals only needs to look at the bigger picture. Taken together SMBs represent a substantial proportion of the market.

Children are often more technically savvy than their parents but less worldly-wise and so typically less wary about sharing information or responding to suspicious messages. This is why it's so important for parents to involve themselves in their children's online activities from a very young age.

In the pre-internet era, data security was essentially endless files filled with thousands of documents. It is hard to believe that there was a pre-internet way of doing business securely at all, or that any business that operated during those times is still going today. It must have been a head spinner to adapt to new technologies.

We need a much larger, open public debate to determine the balance between security and liberty in a digital age. But too many sensible opponents are disposed to calling surveillance measures 'Orwellian'... regular refrain to our most celebrated dystopian nightmare is not helpful.